The military's longstanding ban on open transgender service is likely to face review within the next year, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said in an interview with USA Today published Wednesday.

The "don’t ask, don’t tell" policy now heading toward history does not apply to transgender recruits, who are automatically disqualified as unfit for service. But the military’s long-standing posture on gender-identity has not prevented transgender citizens from signing up before they come out, or from obtaining psychological counseling, hormones and routine health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs once they return to civilian life.